While language facility was once considered to be the sole
province of the “dominant” left hemisphere, clinical
and experimental findings suggest the right hemisphere plays
an equally important role in many language tasks. To elucidate
differential hemispheric language processes, Right Hemisphere
Language Battery and Western Aphasia Battery data from left
(LHD) and right (RHD) hemisphere cerebral vascular accident
(CVA) patients and controls were subjected to multivariate
discriminant analysis. The highly significant group differences
and overall 95% classification rate obtained confirms the utility
of the dependent measures in differential diagnosis. Results
suggest CVA patients experience disparate language deficits,
with the LHD group experiencing concordant-convergent language
deficits and the RHD group displaying discordant–divergent
deficits that interfere with the receptive and expressive language
skills necessary for successful social discourse. (JINS,
2001, 7, 655–664.)